Obama’s ‘Darn’ Second Term: Immigration is Just the Latest Frustration

It ain’t easy being a second-term president. Some believe there’s even a curse. Curse or nocurse, President Obama has grown so frustrated with a gridlocked, do-nothing Congress that he’s game to try any talisman.

The president today voiced his growing displeasure with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other Republicans for failing to pass a “darn bill” on immigration reform. Now the president is going to circumvent the whole darn Congress and take matters into his own hands.

Obama’s annoyance didn’t start with his second term, or even with the current Congress. He ran hot many times prior to his reelection; there were moments in his first term when you could have powered a locomotive with the steam spouted on controversies such as Benghazi and IRS tax targeting. But derailed legislative initiatives are fueling his second-term temper. Here are four more testy examples.

Climate Change: The president’s famous grin masked his frustration on climate-change legislation during his recent interview with Tom Friedman of The New York Times for a Showtime special.

Budget and Government Shutdown: Countless battles over the debt limit, taxes, budget issues, and sequester put a simmer to the “no-drama” president in the middle of the October 2013 government shutdown. Though Republicans relented and the government didn’t default on its debt, Obama’s short-term victories came at the expense of a “grand bargain” on taxes and spending.

Healthcare.gov: In late November 2013, President Obama let fly another “darn” when referring to the flubbed rollout of the Healthcare.gov website. He gets into that in this clip below after musing over the difficulties that the rollout fiasco create for Democrats during the midterm elections.

Gun Control: After the Sandy Hook school shooting in December 2012, President Obama began his second term with a massive push to pass legislation to expand background checks for gun sales. The bill died on the Senate floor in April 2013, when it was shot-down by Republicans and Democrats from gun-friendly states.